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First Look - Crude Jumps on Steep Inventory Drop, but Cushing Piles Up Again

Oil extends gains as US stockpiles post largest draw in two months
- WTI prompt-month rose $0.23 to $62.94/Bbl Thursday morning (7:45 AM CT)
- EIA data showed US crude inventories fell by 6 MMBbls last week, the steepest drop in two months, while gasoline stockpiles declined for a fifth straight week
  - However, inventories at Cushing, OK, rose for a seventh consecutive week
- “The market continues to weigh a mix of bullish and bearish drivers which, combined with thin summer liquidity, are keeping prices boxed in,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodities strategy at Saxo Bank
India reaffirms Russian oil purchases, with conditions (Bloomberg)
- India pledged to continue buying Russian crude “depending on the financial benefit,” according to Vinay Kumar, India’s ambassador in Moscow
- Russia expects India’s purchases to remain steady, as Moscow continues to offer a 5% discount, leaving India with limited alternatives, said Evgeny Griva, Russia’s deputy trade representative in India

Natural gas is trading higher, reversing losses from yesterday
- Temperatures are still forecast to be well-below the ten-year average for the next two weeks, depressing power sector gas consumption
Entergy to build gas power plants for Meta data center (BBG)
- Entergy has received approval from regulators to build three natural gas power plants for a new 5 GW data center being built by Meta
- The data center will be built in rural Louisiana and be nearly as big as Manhattan
- In addition to about 2.3 GW of on-site gas power, the data center will have 1.5 GW of solar capacity
Cameron LNG enters maintenance (BBG)
- A spokesperson for Cameron LNG said a “short, scheduled” maintenance began on Monday
- Flows to Cameron LNG have fallen to 1.38 Bcf/d from recent levels of 2 Bcf/d